A Healthy Self Image is a post from: Recovery Coaching

The best way to improve your life and earn the respect of others is to improve your self-esteem. It may sound like a very difficult task but all that it needs is good guidance. Here are ten tips to help you improve your self-esteem.

1. You should surround yourself with people who are positive and supportive, and shun friends who are cynical and negative. You will respect yourself more, and your self-esteem will grow.

2. You should be clear about what you want to achieve in life. Set goals, and work for their achievement. To make your task easier, break your main goal into several smaller goals which are relatively easier to achieve. This will make the task of reaching your main goals seem easier. It will also give you a feeling of satisfaction whenever you achieve one of the smaller goals.

3. Always be positive about yourself and keep reminding yourself about your good qualities, your accomplishments and how you help your family, friends, others and yourself. Don’t make the mistake of brooding over negative things, and never put yourself down.

4. Develop the ability to accept criticism about yourself, without getting upset or defensive. This will help you eliminate your weaknesses one by one. However, make sure that the criticism is constructive. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by criticism that is cynical or meant to lower your self-esteem. This will be a great mistake, and do irreparable damage to your self-esteem.

5. Everyone fails from time to time. It is ok to fail. We should not let it get us down or to have too much of a negative effect on us. Learn from your mistakes and decide to succeed next time. This positive attitude will help to overcome the most difficult circumstances.

6. Never compare yourself with others. This is the easiest way to feel inferior and lose self-esteem. It is much better to rate yourself on your own achievements. This will give you self-confidence and improve your self esteem.

7. Never put yourself down. Remember, that your self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem are affected by the way you see yourself. Project a positive attitude even in most adverse situations. Make it a point to filter out all self-criticism.

8. Don’t give in to bullies in your place of work or in your personal life. You must learn to stand up to them. This can only happen if you are assertive about your rights. When you adopt this approach you will earn the respect of others and also increase your self-esteem.

9. If you have low self esteem, you may find it difficult in getting to know other people. Try to approach a person and introduce yourself. Ask them questions about themselves and try to be genuinely interested in the answers. Listen carefully and attentively to what they say and respond to show your interest. Interacting with people will make you feel more relaxed. You will realize that it is easy to speak to individuals and groups of people. Relax by concentrating on what others are saying, rather than on yourself and see your self esteem start to grow.

10. Self-esteem is also dependent upon the felling of well-being. A lazy person or a poorly groomed person will always feel inferior to a confident, smart individual. So, you need to take good care of your body. Remember, a healthy body is essential for a healthy mind.

Ten Tips To Improve Your Self-Esteem is a post from: Recovery Coaching

The following offers 10 ways to kick the procrastination habit!

1. Develop your personal values.

Take the time to find out what you really want in life, what your personal values are. Do you want more time, more money, better health, greater self esteem and confidence, more fulfilling relationships, a different career, set up a business? When we procrastinate it’s often because what we are planning to do is not really aligned with what we truly want, our heart’s desire.

2. Make health and high energy levels a priority.

Without good health we are less likely to have the energy and dynamism needed to make positive changes in our lives and it’s easier (and necessary if you’re very ill) to procrastinate. So ensure that you have a nourishing diet, sleep well, exercise and meditate. Incidentally, it is thought that regular meditation helps delay the worst effects of the ageing process.

3. Visualize your life without procrastination.

See and feel the benefits in your life if you didn’t procrastinate. What could you do and achieve? Begin to act as if you’re not a procrastinator. Write down, draw, imagine your life as a film. Use affirmations to help you.

4. Banish self doubt.

That little voice which runs on auto in your head – that dismisses any idea that you might have. It says things like “I’m not in the mood” “I don’t have time” “I can’t do this”. Stop running on auto, replace the “should’s” “oughts” “have tos” with “want to” “desire”. You have a choice. Acknowledge your choices and banish the Gremlin. Again, using affirmations can help you replace the Gremlin with more positive alternatives.

5. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Saying “yes” to everything – often leaves you feeling tired and without the energy to focus on what is most important to you. This leads to procrastination as projects and tasks are dropped. Identify what is most important to you and only focus on those areas which will make the biggest difference to your life. It will enhance your focus and motivation.

6. Set personal and professional goals.

It’s hard to motivate yourself when you don’t have a good idea of what you want to accomplish. So when setting goals think about what you want to achieve in the short term and long term. Techniques for doing so include the SMART strategy. S = specific M = measurable A= Action R = Realistic T = Time based. Use goal setting software to help you in goal planning and setting.

7. Prioritize your goals.

Develop a plan or schedule to help you reach your goals. In doing so you will begin to identify whether some elements need to be included or enhanced or dropped completely. Also remember to be flexible, revisit your goals regularly and modify or drop if appropriate. Just because a goal is written down doesn’t mean that it is set in stone!

8. Manageable steps.

Once you’ve prioritized your goals, divide them into smaller chunks. Sometimes we procrastinate because a project seems really large that the scale of it overwhelms us and puts us into a temporary form of paralysis – you don’t know where to start, so you don’t start at all! Approach each project – especially large ones – on a step by step basis.

9. Reward yourself.

Once you start to complete tasks, reward yourself by giving yourself something that you want. So instead of seeing a film before you complete a task, see it afterwards and make it a reward for you.

10. Just get started.

It’s ok to fail. It’s ok to start when conditions are not perfect, No excuses. Don’t wait until you’re “in the mood”. The mood never comes! It is a clever camouflage and a delaying tactic. What you resist persists! Start with what is easiest, so that you experience immediate success, and go from there.

Get new habits. Start today! Kick the Procrastination Habit. Remember that life is the biggest deadline of all! Make the most of the time you have.

10 Ways To Kick The Procrastination Habit is a post from: Recovery Coaching

1. Believe in yourself more – always think positively and feed yourself with positive inner dialogue. Stand in front of a mirror, look yourself in the eye, and tell yourself how wonderful you are!

2. Recognize that you can never change other people. You can only change yourself. A change in your behavior will give others the opportunity to behave differently towards you.

3. Learn to respond, not react. Start choosing how to behave, based on admitting and accepting the consequences. Accept that you – and only you – have made that choice: nobody has forced you into it.

4. Stop beating yourself up for your decisions and behaviors. Instead, turn every situation into a positive learning opportunity for future behavior change.

5. Make sure your body language is in step with your words. People tend to believe what they see rather than what they hear.

6. Use the green cross code: Stop Look Listen – then think about how you want to respond. This will ensure you stay in control of you and the situation, and afford others the opportunity to do so as well.

7. Aim for situation resolution, not self defence. Concentrate on the situation rather than your own feelings, and recognize that the other person is most probably angry about the situation – not with you.

8. Consider and choose your words. Lose the words that signal “I’m a pushover” such as “I’m terribly sorry”, or “I’m afraid”, or “Could you possibly…?” or “Can I just …?”. Substitute big “I” statements followed by factual descriptions instead of judgments or exaggerations. This will encourage the other person to do the same.

9. Say “no” when you want to. Don’t forget to give yourself all of the rights you allow everyone else to have. And if it helps, remember that you are not refusing them personally, you are refusing their request.

10. Take a “can do” attitude. Believe that things don’t just happen to you – but that you can make them happen.

Assertiveness – Top 10 Tips is a post from: Recovery Coaching